Lock construction



Nov. 30, 1948.

LOCK CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 2, 1945 i Z V 6 I r w .8 2 F ns {6" a i /8 INVENTOR .E. J. HEINEMAN 2,454,920

Patented Nov. 30, 1948 lQE 2,454,920 LOCK CONSTRUCTION Emil J. Heineman, Chicago, Ill., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to

. Charlestown, N. Hampshire a corporation Keil Lock Co. Inc., of New Application February 2, 1945, Serial No. 575,748 3 Claims; (Cl. 292169) This invention relates to lock construction. One of the objects of this invention is to provide a practical and inexpensive lock construction by a keycan be held withdrawn against the action of the bolt spring so that the hand of the operator working the key may be free, in turn to operate the door knob or latch lever, as when the person has an armful of packages or the like. Another object is to provide a simple, practical, and inexpensive means for converting known types of lock construction, such as a night latch, so that the bolt may be held against projection, but still under the control of the key. Another object cated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown an illustrative embodiment of my invention,

Fig. l is a longitudinal central sectional view through the assembled lock mechanism;

Fig. 2 is an elevation as seen along the line 2-2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a detached end elevation of one form of cam as seen from the left in Fig. 2, other parts being omitted.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the draw ings.

Referring, first, to Fig. 1, I provide a lock casing it! having a top wall Ii, front and back end walls l2 and i3, respectively, and opposed side walls M and t5, the casing being adapted to be closed by a back plate I6 which is preferably in the form of a stamping of suitable heavy sheet metal and which is positioned in spaced relation from the front wall H by suitable lugs l8 in the internal side and end walls of the casing H and also by a positioned post 19 that is integrally formed with the front Wall H. a

Projectible from a suitable opening in the end wall 52 is a bolt Zil, illustratively shown asbeing back plate I6, it ment into or out to a suitable keeper (not shown).

Illustratively bolt 20 may be bifurcated, having twoparallel arms that extend toward the right, terminating in vertical lugs 23 and 24 adapted hand edge to be engaged by the cam 25 that is to be operated internally of the door, as by a knob 25, rotatably mounted in the front wall l l, and by a cam 27 that is to be operated by the connecting bar 2% attached to the key-controlled key plug 29 rotatably mounted in a suitable bore of the lock cylindeer or barrel 3!], of any usual or suitable type key-controlled tumbler mechanism.

The bolt 20, where it is of the latch type, has a spring 32 to bias it outwardly of the casing it, one end of the spring extending over a suitable tapered lug 33, projecting to the right from the head of the bolt and the other end of the spring abutting against the post IS, the spring SZ being accommodated amply in the space between the that may be done that extends from top wall H and the back plate H3, or engage suitable guicleways in the front wall H, so that the bolt 20 is slideably guided for movement in withdrawing or projecting directions.

In accordance with certain features of my invention I provide, instead of a simple hole in the back plate l6for the passage therethrough of the securing screw 36 that is threaded into the post l9a slot 3! of suitable width to pass therethrough the shank of the screw 36 and of appropriate length in the direction toward the cam 27 that eiTects withdrawal of the bolt 20. I then pro: part, generally indicated by the reference character 38, and preferably made of spring steel, and shape it to have a fiat base portion 39 that is of greater expanse (Fig. 2) than the slot 31 in the back plate it when its rightis in substantial alignment with the right-hand end wall of the slot 371'. At its'righthand end the part 38 has an extension 40 bent clining away from the cam 21, and, if desired, it may have some curvature in the vertical plane, as indicated in Fig. l.

The base portion 39 has in it a hole 39 so that when the base 39 is made to overlie the underside of the backplate E6, the shank of the screw 36 may be passed through the hole 39, and so that the screw 36 not only holds the back plate IS in position, but also holds part 38 in assembled relation, its base portion 39 being clamped by the screw against the under face of the back 2) and cannot partake of rotary movementabout.

the axis of the screw 36. Being made'of spring metal, the inclined part Ml may thus be givensome yieldability or springiness,- and. under therefore, yield in counter-clockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 1, flexing substantially about its junction to the base portion 39, while some downward yieldability or springiness may also accompany such resiliency of part due to some springiness in the base portion 39 itself, that part of which to the right of thescrew 36 being capable of some springy action.

The just-described parts of the device 38 and its location are related to the cam 27!, which is rotatably mounted in the back plate i6 and which is constructed to have a cam edge of varying height above the back plate I6 for coaction with the inclined resilient part 40,; The cam 2'!- may, therefore, have a flat, plate-like, central .portion 21' which can rest against the upper face of back plate l3, and extending therefrom the cam 2'! has arms 21* and .21 which, as seen in Fig. .3, lie inv a plane above the plane of the central portion 2.1 being joined thereto by inclined portionsiil and 21 The left-hand edge of the center portion 21 and the left-hand edges of the portions 2?,21, 2'1 and 21 may fall in the arc of av circle whose center coincides with the axis of the bearing portion orportions, of the cam 21 stress, it may,

itself; the cam 21 is rotatably carried by the'back plate 1'6, but preferably in a manner to provide looseness of fit therebetween, and, hence, radial play, which may be on .the order of 5% of" an inch or so, and any suitable rotary mounting ofithe cam in the back plate may be employed.

Preferably, however, I employ amounting of the kind shown and described in U. S. Patent No. 2,225,545, to which reference may be made for greater details of construction and action, and for present purposes it will suffice to point out that I first provide in the back plate It a circular hole 4| provided with a cutout or extension M that extends to the right, and then I pro-, vide the center portion 2i of the cam 21' with two arcuate portions 2? and 27 that are of a radius of curvature sufdciently less than the ra dius of the hole M to provide play, as above noted. The ends of the parts H and 21 are extended or bent over into parallelism with the center portion 21, forming retaining lips 21* and 2'! which are dimensioned to be of lesser radial and peripheral extent than theext'ension 4 i -of the hole & l s

Accordingly, a bearing portion 21 and its lip zl may be snaked through the hole- H, cam 21' rotated to bring the opposite lip 21* into alignment with the hole extension M through which itis then passed to bring it to the other side of the plane of plate It, whence continued rotary movement brings it underneath the plate t6 so that it, together with the companion and opposite lip'2l can now hold the cam '21 against disassembly, while permitting substantial or adequate rotation thereof relative to the plate 16.

In the arms N and 21 are cut notches 21 and 21 shaped appropriately to coact with the V-shaped member 43. With both arms 21 and 27 engaging the lugs 23 and 2d of the bolt,"the front edge of the cam just about contacts the part lflgand, assoon as the cam is given a roclined portion of the cam,

j. also to the right, increasing ibearingqsurface :of' the hole 4! that is 39 itself, permitting 4 tary movement, in either direction-as by turning connecting bar 28. by means; of'the key plug controlled bythekeyM-ene of the cam arms moves toward the right and starts the bolt 20 moving the compression of spring 3 2, with the result that the joint action of the "spring and of the torque imposed upon the cam, causes. the play in the rotary mounting of the cam to be taken up on that side of the generally to 1 and 2. During this 2'7, an upwardly ineither part 21 or part 21 has its front edge brought into engagement with the part 40, but, due to the upward inclination of that frontedge, the latter coacts with progressively higher portions of the exposed edge of part All, the latter being inclined toward the left, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and these coacting cam partsma'y be related-as by appropriately setting or adjusting the inclination or curvature of the part 48 with or without predetermination of the rate. of inclination of the part .ZTi-or the part 2'l (Fig. 3) so that the abovementioned shift ,of. the play in the bearing of cam 27] is not materially affected or is partially taken up by causing, some shift of the cam 2'! generally to the right, and particularly in the latter case the parts are being prepared for ensuing coaction with the part 40 of a notch in the cam. Continued rotary movement brings the notched edge of the arm 22 or 2.7 into coaction with an upper portion of the part 40, the notch finally engaging the part 40, and, under the force of the compressed spring 32, the notch snaps into engagement with the part 40 to shift, or to complete the shift, of the play in the bearing of cam 21, so that full iinterengagement between the cam notch and the *part '48 results. The bolt is thus held in retracted position.

With the cam 21 thus held by the part 46, the connecting'bar 2'8, which extends through a suitable hole 21 in the "cam 21, is likewise held in rotated position, as are also the key plug or barrel'29 and the key 42, these positions of the parts 29-36 preventing the withdrawal of the key; to release the bolt '20, the key '42 is given a slight torque to start it turning in reverse direction, and, when only a slight turn is given it, the notch of the cam snaps out of engagement with the part Ml, aided by the play in the cam mounting, whence the energy stored in the spring 32 snaps the bolt into projected position and returns the cam 21 to its normal position-which is all shown in Figs. I 2.

It will be noted that the actions above described can take pl'ace 'witho t calling into play any spring action or springiness of the part 40 or its mounting, and in such case the desired coactions are achievabled'ue to the intentional looseness of fit or play "in the cam mounting so as to permit bodily shift of' the cam. Where it might be undesirable tohave suchlooseness or play, principal reliance may beplaced upon a spring action given the left, as viewed in Figs. rotary movement of cam to the part M and, in the illustrative embodiment, as above noted, this spring action is achieved by the springiness of the metal at the junctionbetween the part to and the base 39, and this may be supplemented by a flexing of the part the part 40 to yield toward or away 'from'thefixed axis of the cam 21. With such an arrangement, the front edges of the parts li 21, and 21 asseen in Fig. 3, need not contact the spring part 4-6 at all throughout the range of rotary movement of the cam 21, or, as is preferred, the parts 2 1 and 21 with their upwardlyinclined front edges, can engage the part 40 and against its resiliency cam it to the left, so that, when either the notch 27 or notch 21 is next brought into coaction with the part 40, the latter can snap back-that is, toward the right and into the notch-and thus releasably hold the cam 2'! against further rotary movement.- During this camming action by either part 27 or part 21 smoothness and ease of forcing the spring part 40 to the left are achieved by the upwardly inclined edge of the cam coacting with the inclined front edge of the part 40, thus progressively increasing the leverage of the cam upon the part 40 to force the latter toward the left, and thus avoiding imposing undue load upon the parts being operated by the turning of the key 42.

The parts are thus all held in retracted or withdrawn positions, and, to restore them to the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the key 42 is manually strained in the direction of reverse rotation, thus bringing into action upon the part 40 the above-mentioned greater leverage, for the cam part (notch 27 or 2") that has its edge coacting with the part 40 at this stage is an elevated part (see Fig. 3) and thus engages the uppermost portion of the part 40 to exert maximum leverage thereon. The part 40 thus yields and is strained again to the left, and, at the moment that the cam notch and part 40 are disengaged, the energy stored in the compressed spring 32 immediately snaps the bolt and cam and key plug and key back to normal position.

Both of the above-described actions-that is, looseness or play in the rotary mounting of the cam and resiliency of action in the part 4|l-may be conjointly employed, and, in such case, a lesser amount of play in the rotary mounting of the cam and a lesser amount of resiliency of the compression of the part 38 may be employed, and part 38 may thus be made of heavier spring stock than if entire reliance were to be placed upon its resiliency. In utilizing both of these actions, the spring action which the device 38 is called upon to contribute is of smaller magnitude, smaller ranges of flexing of the spring parts can take place, and thus a longer-lasting construction results, in that spring fatigue is less likely to occur.

The construction will be seen to be inexpensive and easily applicable to a known or suitable form of latch construction; for example, the part 38 is of simple fabrication and is easily mounted in position, use being made of the back plate mounting screw 36 and of a change of shape of aperture (slot 3 in the back plate which would have to be pierced anyway to accommodate the screw 35. A standard cam, as in the abovementioned patent, can be employed and need simply be notched, so long as its front edges coact appropriately with the part 40, and where looseness of rotary mounting of the cam is desired, one need only stamp or pierce a hole M of suitably larger radius of curvature.

Thus it will be seen that there has been provided in this invention a lock construction in which the various objects above set forth, together with many thoroughly practical advantages, are successfully achieved.

As many possible embodiments may be made of the above invention and as many changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter hereinbefore set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A lock construction comprising a casing having a wall in the form of a back plate, the back plate having a hole to receive a screw and the casing having a threaded hole, a springbiased bolt projectible into or out of the casing, cam member loosely journalled in the back plate having operating connections with the bolt for actuating the bolt, and o-peratively connected to a key operated connector bar, a device made of sheet metal and having a base portion resting against the external face of said back plate and having an operating portion projecting through the hole in the back plate having an inclined bearing surface directed away from said cam, a screw threaded into the threaded casing hole for holding the back plate and said device assembled to the casing, said operating portion of said device and said cam having interengageable parts for releasibly holding said cam member and bolt against movement and comprising a notched portion on the cam engaging a projection on said operating portion aforesaid.

2. A lock construction as claimed in claim 1, in which said operating portion of said device is resiliently yieldable relative to its base portion to thereby effect yieldable interengagement between said parts.

3. In a lock construction having a casing and a spring biased projected latch belt, a key controlled plug and a connecting bar rotated thereby adjacent one end, said bar having its other end extending into a bolt retractor cam in keying engagement and with radial play, a bearing formed in a back plate of said casing for said cam, said bearing being in axial alignment with said latch bolt and said cam being trunnioned in said bearing with radial play, said cam having peripheral edges formed with detent portions at points of substantially full retraction of the latch bolt by the cam and engaging a cooperating fixed portion which, under the radial play of the cam, holds the latch bolt in the retracted position, the bar and cam also responding to the spring biased action of the latch bolt independently of the rotative action of the key controlled plug to cause engagement of the said detent and fixed portions.

EMIL J. HEINEMAN.

REFERENiCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain l Nov. 17, 1932 Great Britain Apr. 2, 1937 Number Number 

